Large-scale Expertise with
Boutique-sized Attention

— How We Started

Pushing Boundaries Since 1996

“emedia is the
oldest women-owned
web company in
continual operation.”
—Anna Murray

I make this assertion because, as far as I can tell, it’s true.

I am a member of the “Class of 1996.” That was the year a bunch of us were founding interactive companies. It was a gold-rush time to start a web agency. The names back then were Giant Step, Agency.com, and Razorfish. Websites had digital counters; Java still meant coffee; and the word “google” would call to mind only those small plastic eyes with the black wiggly centers.

I wasn’t thinking about diversity in web startups back then. All of us were still trying to prove the web was going to be A Thing. We web founders spent most of our time explaining to people what the Internet was, how it applied to business, and that it was probably important.

Today, there’s barely a distinction between “media” and “online media,” or between “software” and “online software.” This loss of identity—the blending of a new technology within the fabric of everything around it— proves the technology has truly arrived.

People ask me a lot about my company name—emedia. Are we a media company? What kind of name is that for a technology consulting company? The answer lies in that legendary year of 1996. That was when everyone began to put an “e” in front of a word to indicate that it was the online version of the traditional Thing. We got e-mail, e-commerce, and e-learning. I founded my company to provide people with services to take their traditional communication—print, video, audio—online. Hence e-media.

The world of 1996 was very small. I never met another female web agency founder. I would like to know if there was one. For now, I will continue bear the self-declared title of the “oldest women-owned web company in continual operation.” If another woman founder steps forward to identify herself, I will happily share the tiara.